Tuesday, November 18, 2008

I'm a proud Aunty!

My nephew has been acting lately. He's only 16.

I knew he's talented in dancing. He loves to dance shuffle. Our family has been showing full support to his passion. He did a few shows here and there. And that's when he was discovered by one of the great director in town.

He started acting as extras in Sutera Maya TV series (shown TV3 at 6:30pm). He did 2 episodes in Sutera Maya, Episodes 4 & 20 (if i'm not mistaken and i watched the Episode 4 only!).

Then he quietly told us that he'll be acting in Front Page (another TV series shown on NTV7). Well actually the mother knew about it!

And my younger sister called me up last Sunday and told me that Eddie is in the newspaper! Walawei.... glamour la my nephew ni!

I search on the net (i never buy newspaper), and found the article online from THE STAR website.

THE STAR NEWSPAPER

Friday November 14, 2008

Dance of death

By SHAMALA VELU

Shuffle in the streets leads to a dancer’s death, in FRONTPAGE.

AS long as there’s great news, there will be good stories. That’s how award-winning director/producer and screenwriter Kabir Bhatia views the current investigative seriesFRONTPAGE,currently aired on Ntv7.

Bhatia along with his team of writers decided to come up with the episode,Shufflers,after reading about issues concerning teenagers in the newspapers. This episode, he says, is one of the more interesting ones as it highlights numerous social issues.

A new dance craze takes teenagers by storm in FRONTPAGE.

“It’s the characters and the visuals that make the story very interesting. This is really an interesting episode because the focus is around young people. It’s not something that we imagined but it’s a story that we read about in the newspapers sometime in May this year. That’s how the stories inFRONTPAGEcome together,” he explained, confirming thatthe series is grounded in reality.

This episode was inspired by a report in the newspapers about a new dance style for teenagers.

The auditions for this episode attracted many young people with impressive dancing skills and viewers will see that it consists of mostly 16 to 17-year-olds who have a great passion for the artform.

Shufflersstarts off with a dance craze that takes teenagers in Kuala Lumpur by storm. There are wild nights, partying in clubs and streets. Friends are the most important thing for these youths and they will stand up for each other, no matter what.

The lead dancer, Shark, is killed and initial investigations point towards his rocker enemies. The plot thickens when it turns out to be someone else instead.

Radin Ahmad Adrian, 16, who plays Shark in the episode, says what he likes about this episode is the unexpected ending.

“It starts off with the murder and as the investigation wears on, there are lots of surprises,” he said. Adrian, like the others who are acting for the first time, said working with Bhatia was a wonderful experience.

“I had a great time. All of us did, because he just let us be ourselves and do what we like most – dancing!” he said over the phone.

Bhatia says it was a challenge working with amateurs as well. “I don’t expect much from them. The challenge of working with youngsters and newcomers is that they do not know what to expect.”

Some, he said, wanted to leave in the afternoon, thinking they were done for the day.

“I had to tell them that this is not how it works during a shoot,” he smiled. “They do not understand the long hours we put in.”

There were close to 30 young people in this episode, jazzing up the set with their vibrant dance styles. It’s also interesting to note the colourful street dance scenes.

“I wanted these young people to be themselves. They have to be relaxed in order to do their best,” he said.